A Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame executive has defended museum bosses’ decision only to induct the original members of Kiss, insisting they created the iconic characters that perform onstage.
Founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley recently turned down the chance to perform at the big ceremony next month after learning that longtime bandmates Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer had not been invited to play.
Simmons complained that founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss had only been in the band for the first seven years, Singer and Thayer, who are part of the current line-up, have played with KISS for 20 years.
Attempting to explain the decision, Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Foundation CEO Joel Peresman tells Billboard.com the band is being honored for what it accomplished in the 1970s with the original line-up, and that Singer and Thayer have simply adopted the personas created by Frehley and Criss.
He says, “With Kiss there wasn’t one person here who didn’t agree that the reason Kiss was nominated and is being inducted was because of what was established in the 70s with Ace (Frehley), with Peter (Criss), with Paul and Gene.
“That’s what put them on that map… It’s not like they (Singer and Thayer) created these other characters with different makeup and playing different songs. They took the persona of characters that were created by Ace and Peter.”

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